Depression What would lead a 26-yr-old mother to stab her son to death?

What could lead a young woman to the brink where she lost it and stabbed her son to death?

The police in Ogun State are still trying to get a hang on what would make a 26-year-old woman, Funmilayo Tijani, to stab her three-year-old son to death in the Sango Ota area of the state.

The strange act of the fashion designer who has been separated from her husband and father of her son for two years now is still making the people of the community wonder whether she was depressed or had a mental break down as a result of her separation from her husbnad.

On Children's Day, May 27,  Funmilayo, who lived with her father after moving out of her husband's house, allegedly stabbed the little boy to death with a kitchen knife at their Ogunso Street, Orelope Estate, residence.

Funmilayo was arrested by the police from Sango Police Division and later transfered to the homicide department of the force in Abeokuta.

Her 53-year-old father, Adebayo Tijani, is yet to come to terms with her actions.

He said:

“Funmilayo’s mother died about 20 years ago. She grew up staying with me. I married a second wife later, but separated from her years ago. Funmilayo had been staying with me since she separated from her husband, John.

John initially refused to accept her pregnancy, but they went for a DNA test, which confirmed him as being responsible for the pregnancy.

Thereafter, he took her to a place in Apapa, and they were planning to travel to his hometown in Delta State, but I refused and asked her to come back home.”

But there have been accusing fingers by some neighbours who say that her own father could have been the owner of the child.

A neighbour narrated:

“Funmilayo and her son stayed with her father in a one-room apartment. The boy attended a private school in this area. About 4pm on the fateful day, we noticed that something was going wrong in the apartment.

When people went near, they saw the boy in a pool of blood. He had been stabbed many times. Funmilayo at that time looked like a mentally-derailed woman. The boy died before anyone could take him to a hospital.

Although no one could ascertain the cause of her action, Funmilayo is divorced, and the child was born out of wedlock about three years ago.

There are also arguments whether her husband was the father of the boy or her father, who she stayed with.

Also, her former husband, John, has married another wife who gave birth a few weeks to the incident. I think all these contributed to Funmilayo’s emotional breakdown.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident.

“The police were at the scene to recover the body of the child. The woman has been acting strangely like someone with an unsound mind. She has been arrested and investigation is ongoing.”